John Milton - Poemata - Latin, Greek and Italian Poems

Marine creatures. Proteus was the shepherd of the seas.

Flora.

See the account of his gardens in the Odyssey.

Young was private tutor to Milton before he went to St. Paul's. (Milton's prose letter to Young is included in an appendix below.)

Aeolus, god of the east wind. Sicania was a name for Sicily.

Mother of the Nereids (sea–nymphs).

Drawn by winged dragons.

Triptolemus was presented by Ceres with a winged chariot.

A Saxon warrior slain by a giant.

Socrates.

Aristotle.

Alexander.

Chiron and Phoenix were the tutors of Achilles.

Helicon.

Alluding to the war between the Protestant League and the Imperialists.

The goddess of war.

Helicon.

The Great Bear, called also Charles's Wain (wagon). "Bootes" is the constellation called "The Waggoner," who is said to be "less fatigued" because he drives the wain higher in the sky.

Diana (the Moon).

Tithonus, mortal husband to Aurora (the dawn), granted immortality without eternal youth. See Homer's Hymn to Aphrodite (lines 218–238). Cephalus was her lover, unwillingly taken by her from his beloved wife Procris. See Ovid (Met. vii, 700–708).

Hades (Pluto).

A water goddess—mother of the river gods and wife of Oceanus.

The mother of Dionysus. Juno persuaded her to ask to see Jove in all his divine glory, the vision of which struck her dead. See Ovid (Met. iii, 308–309.)

The wheels of Apollo's chariot. See Ovid (Met. ii, 19–328.)

The goddess of chastity.

Hymn to Hymen, the goddess of marriage.

The wood god.

The goddess of agriculture. Cybele (Rhea) was called the mother of the gods and of men. See Virgil (Aen. x, 252–253.)

The god of shepherds.

A wood nymph.

A poet native to Teios in Ionia.

See Horace's Odes (i, 19–23).

Cerberus, the guardian of Hades.

Pythagoras.

A son of Apollo.

Tiresias was gifted by Pallas with the power of understanding the language of birds to atone for his loss of sight.

The Grecian soothsayer at the siege of Troy.

Orpheus.

Odysseus.

"The Hymn" from "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity."

i.e. "In my nineteenth year."

Venus (Aphrodite), so called from Amethus in Cyprus, where she had a temple.

Cupid, called after his mother's title.

Ganymede, whom Jove, in the form of an eagle, spirited away to serve as his cup–bearer. See Ovid (Met. x, 155–161)

The friend of Hercules, stolen by nymphs who had fallen in love with him.

She fled from Apollo, and was transformed into a laurel.

The Roman Crassus was defeated in 53 B.C. by the Parthian cavalry when they fired backwards with devastating effect. The Cydonians were also famed for their skill in archery.

Cephalus, who shot his wife Procris by mistake.

Hercules.

Telemon.

Esculapius, who came to Rome in the form of a snake.

Vulcan (Hephaestus) was cast down from Olympus to the isle of Lemnos.

One of the Argonauts. He was swallowed up by the sea.

A later retraction by Milton. The line appears in the original to separate it from what came before it.

Diomedes wounded Venus (Aphrodite) at Troy. See Homer (Il. v, 335–343)

The Poems on the subject of the Gunpowder Treason (This includes "On the Fifth of November" below.) I have not translated, both because the matter of them is unpleasant, and because they are written with an asperity, which, however it might be warranted in Milton's day, would be extremely unseasonable now.—W.C.

Leonora Baroni, celebrated Neapolitan singer. Milton heard her perform at the palace of Cardinal Barberini in 1638.

I have translated only two of the three poetical compliments addressed to Leonora, as they appear to me far superior to what I have omitted.—W.C.

Leonora d'Este, supposed lover of Torquato Tasso.

Adriana Baroni, who accompanied her daughter on the lute.

A mad Theban king.

One of the Sirens.

From Chalcis, whence the Greek colonies of South Italy came.

Added to the Elegies in the 1673 edition.

Dr. John Goslyn, Regius Professor of Medicine at Cambridge. He died on the 21st October, 1626.

A centaur whom Hercules shot with a poisoned arrow. Hercules was later poisoned by the centaur's blood–stained robe, which he was induced to put on.

Sarpedon. See Homer (Il. xvi, 477–491).

Circe and Medea were enchantresses.

Son of Esculapius. He was a healer to the Greeks during the siege of Troy. See Homer (Il. xi, 514).

The centaur Chiron was killed by Hercules's poisoned arrows.

Esculapius. He was killed by Jove's lightning for having saved too many from death.

Nicholas Felton.

Dr. Felton died a few days after Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester. See Milton's Third Elegy.

Ovid.

A Greek poet. He was refused by Lycambes as a suitor to his daughters, and in revenge lampooned the entire family. Lycambes's daughters hanged themselves.

Erebus and Erynnis are Furies.

See Milton's Fifth Elegy, line 6, and the note thereto.

The constellation Scorpio.

Pallas Athena (Minerva) had the head of the Gorgon Medusa in her shield; it turned all who looked upon it into stone.